In Naryn, there’s a tradition of bridal kidnapping - “a man, especially from a remote area, can see a woman on the street … and say, ‘Oh I’m gonna take her,’” Doby said. And because there are so many rules about respect and shame, it’s virtually impossible for the woman to escape. “They can fight to a certain extent,” Doby said, but if the man succeeds in getting the girl back to his house and keeps her there for the night, then they’re married. To keep the girls there - and they are girls; one of Doby’s 17-year-old students was threatened with a kidnapping shortly before she left Kyrgyzstan for good - the men will have their mothers stand in doorways because it’s disrespectful to harm an elder. Doby said she’d tell her students to put up a fight and call the police, but in reality, most of the policemen in Naryn had procured wives the same way. “There’s such a brotherhood of men there,” she said. Seeing all this helped Doby choose what her next step will be. Since she got back from Kyrgyzstan, she’s been applying to graduate schools with Human Rights programs and eventually wants to enter that field.

Caption: Norkuz -- a kidnapped Kyrgyz woman -- resists entering her future in-laws' home in the Kyrgyz village of Soviet.

Among the Kyrgyz people, Allyson Doby stood out like a sore thumb. “I wore so many bright articles of clothing,” said the Lynchburg native. “There I was, with blonde hair shining like a beacon. (They all knew), there’s the American.”

A little over two weeks ago, Doby, 24, came back home to Lynchburg after spending two years in the Peace Corps. During that time, she lived and taught English to high schoolers in Kyrgyzstan, a small country in Central Asia that was formerly part of the Soviet Union.

“I wanted to go see the world from a different perspective than what I was used to,” she said.

Doby first left in September 2004 and spent three months in a Peace Corps training camp in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where most of her time was devoted to learning the language and how to be a teacher.

Her host family knew maybe a dozen English words, so it was important for Doby to learn Kyrgyz.

After training, she was off to the small town of Naryn, in one of the most isolated and impoverished regions of the country. It has a population of about 40,000 and 60 percent unemployment.

Her host family was more well-off than other families in the town and had running water.

Still, life there was different, as were the attitudes of the people who lived in Naryn.

“It was really oppressive,” she said. “Women are supposed to stay in the homes and cook for their husband and kids. … We’re so equal here (in America), I didn’t even think it (would be) an issue.”

At one point, Doby said she was standing in town with two male volunteers when a Kyrgyz man came up to them and shook both of their hands, but barely even glanced at her. She got that a lot, but didn’t put up with it.

“If a man didn’t shake my hand,” she said, “I put out my hand.”

That wasn’t the only thing that was different from the life Doby was used to.

The home she stayed in had an outhouse. She could only shower about once a week at a Banya House, basically a public shower, and she’d wash her hair three to four times a week in a basin - “I wore a lot of hats,” she said with a laugh.

“It was kind of strange,” she said. “But I was so excited to be seeing these things and doing these things (that it didn’t matter).”

Doby had to be extra careful with her clothes; if she tore her jeans, there wasn’t an American Eagle or Target down the street to replace them. For the first year, she hand washed all her clothes in a basin, but by her second year, the town got a Laundromat. Even so, she learned to wear her clothes for days at a time before washing them.

The food, which consisted of mainly meats, potatoes and fried foods, proved problematic for Doby, a vegetarian.

“A sheep would appear in the yard one day, and two days later, there’s a head on the table,” she said.

Her host family was understanding, though, and served her eggs, beans and soup. Vegetables were hardly a staple.

“It’s so cold and so remote that they couldn’t grow their own vegetables,” she said.

The region experiences about six to seven months of winter every year. “When it snows, it snows a lot and it will never melt,” Doby said. “It starts snowing in late October, early November and doesn’t stop until April. It’s like a swamp there in April because all the snow is (finally) melting.”

When the weather was warm enough, Doby liked to go hiking in the mountains or running through town.

But that kind of weather was rare. Often, she found herself indoors, reading (she read 101 books while there) or hanging out with other Peace Corps volunteers and her host family, which had three small children.

Peace Corps volunteers are supposed to live the life of the locals, so Doby was given $100 a month while in Kyrgyzstan. Even that is big bucks compared to the $30 a month her host dad brought home, and he’s a doctor.

Bringing her laptop was one of the best decisions Doby said she made. She’d go to a local place in town that had Internet to send e-mails home and blog about her experiences. She’d also watch DVDs, and said she’d seen the fourth season of “Seinfeld” more times than she’d like to admit.

In the Peace Corps, if you don’t have a background in business or economics, you’re automatically an English teacher. Doby spent about 13 hours a week teaching, and said she found her experiences in the classroom frustrating at times.

“The mentality is if I have something and you don’t, I have to share it with you,” she said.

Basically, in school, the good students feel like they have to help the bad ones, so Doby often found them cheating on tests.

“They’re so concerned about appearances,” she said of the parents and the people in charge of the Soviet-era school system. “They just want it to look like the child is doing well. They don’t actually have to be doing well. … It was very frustrating because they don’t care what the kids are doing.”

Getting used to women’s role in the culture also proved challenging.

In Naryn, there’s a tradition of bridal kidnapping - “a man, especially from a remote area, can see a woman on the street … and say, ‘Oh I’m gonna take her,’” Doby said.

And because there are so many rules about respect and shame, it’s virtually impossible for the woman to escape.

“They can fight to a certain extent,” Doby said, but if the man succeeds in getting the girl back to his house and keeps her there for the night, then they’re married. To keep the girls there - and they are girls; one of Doby’s 17-year-old students was threatened with a kidnapping shortly before she left Kyrgyzstan for good - the men will have their mothers stand in doorways because it’s disrespectful to harm an elder.

Doby said she’d tell her students to put up a fight and call the police, but in reality, most of the policemen in Naryn had procured wives the same way.

“There’s such a brotherhood of men there,” she said.

Seeing all this helped Doby choose what her next step will be. Since she got back from Kyrgyzstan, she’s been applying to graduate schools with Human Rights programs and eventually wants to enter that field (she graduated from James Madison University in 2004 with a degree in International Affairs and Spanish).

“This is important,” she said. “These hardworking women who want to have jobs and contribute to their communities can’t because they’re being kidnapped (and forced into marriage).”

While Doby did have some frustrating experiences, it wasn’t all negative, she said.

“Every time I had this little bratty kid harass me or a taxi driver try to overcharge me, a nice shopkeeper was around the corner,” she said. “Or I’d go home to my host family, and they’d say ‘Oh, he’s a jerk anyway’ (about the person who’d been mean).”

As the end of her time there neared, Doby was counting down the days. But when it actually came time to leave, “I found it hard to say goodbye.

“It was really strange. (I was like), ‘This is my house (here in Naryn). I don’t know how to behave in America.’”

Coming back was an adjustment. “I didn’t know what to make of anything,” she said. “I went to the grocery store, and was like ‘Oh my God, I can buy anything I want.’”

“I’m kind of a freak,” she added, “with the simple pleasures right now.”

All Volunteers Safe in FijiAll Volunteers in Fiji are safe and accounted for. The Peace Corps is monitoring the situation very closely. Volunteers are on standfast but there are no plans for evacuation at this time. Peace Corps is working closely with the US embassy and with host country partners to monitor the situation. Peace Corps is confident that volunteers are not in harm's way. The military seized control of Fiji on December 5 after weeks of threats. Subscribe to our news feed to read the latest breaking news.

Ron Tschetter in Morocco and JordanOn his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future.

Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace CorpsSenator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments.

He served with honorOne year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Peace Corps' Screening and Medical ClearanceThe purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

The Peace Corps is "fashionable" againThe LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

Read the stories and leave your comments.

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Lynchburg News and Advance

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kyrgyzstan; Women's Issues

PCOL3562705

Add a Message

This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.